No changes set for civil service laws

November 15, 2012

Tiffin City Council Personnel and Labor Relations Committee members agreed Wednesday evening to make no changes to the civil service ordinance.

Fire Chief Bill Ennis proposed the committee change the ordinance by allowing college education to substitute for years of experience to be eligible for promotions and city administration to choose from the top three candidates instead of taking the top ranked candidate from the assessment center.

Ennis said he wanted firefighters with a four-year degree to be credited as two years of firefighting experience. He said education was very important because there are more technical things that go into the job that can be learned better in the classroom.

"I think we're short-changing the community, I think we're short-changing our firefighters, if we do not add that educational component in there," Ennis said.

While the committee agreed that education is important, Joe Hartzell, Rich Cline and committee chair Tyler Shuff said they felt actual firefighting experience is more important.

Ennis also said he wanted the committee to change the current system of hiring chiefs and deputy chiefs, and wanted to use the police department's system of having the city administration choose from the top three candidates from the assessment system.

Mayor Aaron Montz and City Administrator Deb Reamer agreed that choosing from three, rather than having just one candidate, is the best system. Montz used the hiring of Police Chief Fred Stevens as an example of why the change should be made.

Shuff said there is no problem with the current system in place.

"If it's not broken, then why are we trying to fix it?" he said.

The committee agreed to have Law Director Brent Howard make necessary changes to the ordinance, to remove language that states candidates are to have taken certain training classes which are no longer offered.